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Hello everyone! I’m Meg, Peat’s new assistant. I will be posting regularly to both the blog and the forum. As one of my first duties, I am pleased to announce the winners for the Succor Contest.

Peat told me to apologize for the delay in announcing the winners. He has been very busy working on The Daylight War.

I really enjoyed judging this contest. I love playing and inventing games, so this was a real treat. I am very impressed by the intricate rules, backstories and various interpretations of succor. Great job everybody!

But still, there must be winners. And what better way to decide to judge games than by playing them?

So, I broke out my very own succor dice and (after admiring them for some time) set about playing each and every one of the games entered. Of course, I needed a little help, so I tested these games with a couple groups of friends.

Playing

Winning!

So, without further ado, the winners:

SuccorbyAlex Stout

OBJECT: The object of the game is to defend yourself from the demons of the night by preparing the appropriate wards.

PLAYING: Each round, one player assumes the roll of the demon. The demon rolls one die. This determines the type of demon the other players must defend against. Each other player then rolls two dice, if either of these dice match that rolled by the demon then the player has successfully found succor from the demon.

Note: The ‘ward’ symbol counts as a wildcard for the player and may be used to represent any other ward. If the demon player rolls the ‘ward’ when determining the type of demon the other players are to defend against then the defending players may only roll one die while attempting to find succor.

If any player fails to defend themselves against the demon then the defending player gains a demon-point.

After all players have rolled to defend themselves play passes to the player to the left of the current demon player, this player is the new demon and the process is repeated.

LOSING: If a player accumulates three demon-points then that player loses the game and is eliminated from play. They have failed to find succor and have been lost to the night.

WINNING: The game is over when there is only one player left with less than three demon-points. The winning player has successfully found succor against the demons of the night.

Succor by Arthur

Requirements:

-At least 4 succor dice
-A method of recording wards (“official” being a gamecard with 9 ward places on an outer ring and 3 on an inner ring)

Getting Started:

Determine who goes first by rolling a single ward. The person that rolls “ward” goes first and play continues clockwise (to the left). If more than one person rolls “ward,” they roll off a single ward to determine who goes first using the win chart below (which can be its own mini-game like paper-rock-scissor in its own right):

The goal of the game is to ward yourself against the night with 4x three different wards.

On each player’s turn, he or she rolls four wards and adds any wards they wish to keep to their circle. A player may only have three types of wards in their circle at any time. “Ward” wards are wildcards and may stand in place of any other type (house rules determine if the type must be chosen when added to the circle, or may change at any time making generic wards highly prized). If the player chooses, they may discard all of the wards of a given type from their circle to be replaced with wards from their roll.

Until a player has three balanced sets of wards (3 wards of 3 types), they may not add a fourth ward of any type to their circle. Once three sets are balanced, they may begin to add the 4th ward of each type to their circle. Completing three sets means a player has achieved succor and is safe (they win). If only one player reaches succor on a turn, they win. If more than one player achieves succor on the same turn, each tests the wards of the player to their left.

Succor by Perry Toyn

1. The warding stage
The players take it in turns to roll the 4 dice in an attempt to get one of the following wardings. They are allowed to re-roll any or all of the dice once per warding.

Four Wards – Full warding – Blocks three Corelings of any types
Three Wards and One Coreling – Minor Full Warding – Blocks one Coreling of any type and one Coreling of the type on the dice.
One Ward and Three matching Corelings – Major Warding against the Coreling Shown – Blocks two Corelings of the type shown (E.g. three flames and a ward would be a Major Warding against fire corelings and would block two fire corelings.)
Two Wards and Two matching Corelings – Minor warding against the Coreling Shown – Blocks One Coreling of the type shown (E.g. Two wards and two rocks would block one rock coreling)
No wards and no matching dice – Broken Circle – All wards previously thrown are removed. (E.g. One rock, one wind, one fire and one water)
Any other roll is a failed ward and the dice are passed to the next player.
(E.g. One ward, two wood and a rock)

The dice are then passed on and if the player rolled one of the wardings listed above then they record its type. All the players roll an agreed number of times to set up wards (e.g 5 or 10) and when they have all rolled that many times phase two begins

2. The rising
The players total how many of each type of coreling their wards will be able to resist Wards that can block any kind of coreling are held in reserve and can be allocated after corelings start to rise.
Each player takes it in turn to roll a dice that represents a coreling rising. The total number of each coreling type is cumulative and if there are more corelings of a particular type than a player has wards for then they are out of the game.
If a ward is rolled then each player can increase the strength of one warding against a coreling type.
The winner is the last player who remains safe behind their wards.

Succor by Matt Gillard

The Simplest Form of Succor as taught to children.

A group of four players roll a single die. Any player that doesn’t cast a ward is immediately eliminated from play. Not very fun, but the morale is imperative.

The man without wards dies.

Succor by Elicius

The game takes place in four stages:

1 – Dawn.
Three linking wards must be rolled to advance. Play continues clockwise, each rolling all four dice, until this happens (see i, ii & vii).

2 – Day.
Once a player has their three Linking Wards they must defend them! Opponents now have two options, they can either attempt to roll their own three link wards, or can play coreling’s advocate, and move to attack!

Once a player has rolled their dice, they can decide whether they will attack or attempt to form their own wards, depending on the outcome (see iv & v). If the defender survives, with any number of intact linking wards, they can move onto the next stage.

3 – Dusk.
During this stage, the defender must roll four of a kind. [Three linking wards can be used either to bolster defence and restore Linking Wards to three, or qualify for a re-roll (see ii)]. If the defender does not successfully roll a four-of-a-kind, his linking wards are still open to attack, and the destruction of all three returns the player to Dawn’s Light. Rolling four coreling-specific Wards completes the Ward-net! Congratulations, you have reached Succor!

4 – Night.
As you curl up to sleep within your Warded Circle, the Night closes in around you. In order to survive this night, which lasts two full turns, you must trust in the magic of your wards, and the succor they provide.

While a player may think they have won once they reach succor, your wards are fickle beasts indeed. Opponents here have the option to attack, working alone or as a pack to destroy the warded defence! If the ward net is broken (see vi), the player is unprotected, the corelings are free to feast, and the player is out of the game entirely.

Note: These rules have been edited for the purpose of this entry.

I would definitely recommend trying some of these games out. You can view all the fantastic entries in their complete length here: Succor Contest Entries